yesterday

Yesterday I had a fabulous day.

1) went shopping with mom. Mom bought me clothes.
2) met my friend Tara. decided to go for lunch. as it was already 1:30 decided to get frozen yogurt to stave off pre-lunch hunger pains.
3) had lunch around 3 at a lovely little Thai restaurant. Only $8.
4) went to honest eds. I have never been there before. it's a toronto institution.
5) went out for coffee. split a piece of cheesecake and had some tea.
6) went shopping (well, browsing...)
7) had dinner (it's around 9pm now) at "fresh" a veggie restaurant. Only $9.
8) went out to a pub for some live music and pints
9) arrived home where Tara stayed the night
10) woke up and had orange juice, coffee, and banana bread with my parents and Tara
11) Tara left around 11am.

Seriously - A day filled with shopping, food, friends, and fun. All days should be so fabulous.

Happy New Years!

wireless, and a list for good measure

Right now I am in the basement of my house - and as luck would have it - the basement is providing me with something that my upstairs cannot - wireless internet! Apparently from here I can access a wireless network that I could not access from upstairs. Even though it is the holidays and so I am not on the internet nearly as much - I can now be online if I want at home!
(note: for those of you who are unaware of my predicament, my home in T.O. has dial-up. we might as well grow our own wheat and mill our own bread!)

I feel very emotional right now - I think probably because I am tired - luckily, tomorrow I will be busy, fun-busy, and I will be happy and carefree. So to put me in a good mood before bed I have compiled a happy list.

Things that make me happy
1) laughter
2) water-cheers and mixed berry crepes
3) my parents and my friends
4) chai-eggnog
5) free wirelss
6) devin

song for a winter's night

The lamp is burning low upon my table top the snow is softly falling
The air is still within the silence of my room I hear your voice softly calling
If I could only have you near to breathe a sigh or two
I would be happy just to hold the hands I love on this winter night with you

The smoke is rising in the shadows overhead my glass is almost empty
I read again between the lines upon the page the words of love you sent me
If I could know within my heart that you were lonely too
I would be happy just to hold the hands I love upon this winter night with you

The fire is dying now, my lamp is growing dim the shades of night are lifting
The morning light steals across my windowpane where webs of snow are drifting
If I could only have you near to breathe a sigh or two
I would be happy just to hold the hands I love and to be once again with with you
To be once again with with you

thoughts

1) buying christmas presents is super fun, but it's also a little bit stressful b/c you always want people to like what you bought them. Next year I am going to buy everyone designer coasters.

2) there are people, in life, who you can be mad at, or frustrated with, and it doesn't matter, because you both know that it doesn't change how you feel about each other. the obvious example of this is the parent-child relationship. and if you have this relationship with a friend, then it must be a really special friendship, because it's a really freeing feeling to be frustrated with someone and to know that it doesn't really matter because you love them and in a day or two you will have only the love, minus the frustration, and that the ability to argue and express all your feelings actually makes the friendship stronger.

3) Not that I was ever very good at pool, but I am officially quite bad again.

4) The loss of independence which accompanies being at home is killing me.

5) I do not understand people who never move out of their parents home. I understand moving out for school, then moving back to save money. I get saving money by going to school and living at home, and then moving out after graduation. I don't get being 25 and having NEVER lived anywhere else.

6) My new life plan: I am going to be a life coach! Seriously. And my sub-speciality will be self-esteem, but I will also be able to assist with career planning, household organization, and talk therapy. If anyone is interested, I am offering my services at a discounted rate while I work on establishing my practice.

Reason #148 why I have issues

Last night I went to the store because I was out of milk.
This morning, I woke up to discover the milk sitting happily on the kitchen counter.
Who forgets to put milk away??

things that make me happy

1) eggnog chai lattes
2) my nailpolish
3) degrassi: the next generation
4) having dinner with friends
5) getting emails that reference rob diamond
6) the lights on oak bay ave.

if you are the type of person who avoids discussions about religion and politics at parties, you might want to avoid this post

Lately I've had this desire to write a really serious post - which is usually what I try to avoid in blogging - plus when you write something serious you risk exposing more of yourself than you meant to, or provoking negative emotions in people by mistake. In any case, I was debating between writing on abortion, the conservative government, or my fears about the future - and I've decided to go with the first (and most potentially explosive) one.

The piece I came across on Elizabeth May on the internet quoted her as saying, among other things, (paraphrasing) "You would have to be out of your mind to want an abortion" - and this prompted a number of responses from people who were concerned with this opinion, and what appeared to be the contradiction between May's political pro-choice stance and a personal pro-life stance. Okay, but here's the thing - Elizabeth May is right. Who in their right mind would want an abortion? No one wakes up one day and says "my goal in the next six months is to have an abortion" or "by the time I am 30 I hope to have had three abortions". Anyone who characterizes pro-choice people as thinking abortion is an intrinsic good are crazy and such a characterization is completely unfair.

However, there are many circumstances, which if found in, a person would not be crazy to want to have an abortion. Someone who felt they were not ready, too young, emotionally unstable, whatever, and chose to have an abortion, would not be out of their mind. They would be making a rational and reasonable decision. There are probably some people who do not take the protection that they should when having sex, and who do not take the decision to have an abortion as seriously as I might like; however, I do believe that most women who have an abortion do not take the decision lightly, and I also believe that most women do not regret the decision. I believe that abortion is something which should be accessible to all women in their first trimester (an arbitrary length of time, I realize). And I also believe that society should take every step possible to ensure that abortion is extremely rare. This can include advocating safe sex practices, using multiple forms of protection, abstinance, providing funding for day care and educational programs and any and all methods of family planning. Someone once said "abortion should be legal, but rare" and I completely agree.

Now there will be people reading this who say "oh no, I can never imagine having an abortion, or how anyone would be able to. A baby is a gift (from God or nature) and is always a cause for joy" and if that is what you believe, then I agree - such a person could not ever imagine ever having an abortion and would probably (regardless of circumstances) never have an abortion. However, I would not want to live in a world where one person's belief about abortion would affect the ability of another person to have one. And so while I am unsure of May's motives in making her statements, I think abortion is a subject that people tend to see in black and white and that's a mistake. Like anything, there needs to be a space for dialogue and respect, and that it what I have tried to present here.

I don't think posting gets much more serious then this. Next time: a return to my regular posting topics of coffee and television.

Stephane Dion

Pros:
he has good policies
he is bilingual
he cares about the environment

Cons:
he will not inspire new left voters
he will not inspire new right voters
(so bascially - he will not inspire)
he is boring (also maybe a pro?)

I feel like with this election nothing has changed, and I am not excited at all about the liberal party or canadian politics in general. And I think now, Elizabeth May is probably my favourite national leader.

my personal order of Liberal leadship candidates
1) MHF, 2) BR, 3) GK, 4) SB and SD, 5) KD, 6) MI, 7) JV (who I detest)

different graphic, same message